The Reinheitsgebot: Between German Consumer Culture and the European Market
7 minutes
On 15 July, 1987, West German federal president Richard von Weizsäcker received a letter from one Andreas Z., which began: “Much has been written abou...
Once Upon a Game Reserve: Sambisa and the Tragedy of a Forested Landscape
5 minutes
The Sambisa Forest, located in Borno State in northeast Nigeria, has become synonymous with Boko Haram terrorism. Boko Haram has waged a bloody war ag...Uses of Environmental History: Lise Sedrez
by Lise Sedrez
4 minutes
São Paulo, the largest city in South America, is going through a historical drought. So is California, in the USA. That is how newspapers refer to the...Entangled Nature: The Stirling Range National Park
15 minutes
From the top of Mount Trio, the Stirling Range National Park appears covered in khaki velvet, a little threadbare in parts, but soft in the folds. Str...Uses of Environmental History: Don Worster
5 minutes
If I did not believe that environmental history is already useful and practical, more so than other fields of historical research, then I would have a...Uses of Environmental History: John R. McNeill
8 minutes
“As Useful as We Want to Be” Environmental or ecological historians do not “need to become more useful and practical” in anything. They sho...Animal Rights vs. Bullfights: The Horns of an Indian Dilemma
by Rita Brara
6 minutes
Animal rights activists in India have been at the forefront of a legal campaign against jallikattu—a form of bullfighting in the province of Tami...The Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador: Pachamama Has Rights
5 minutes
Nature has recently been recognized as a subject rather than an object of rights in some Latin American countries. This is the case in Bolivia, on a l...How to Read a Bridge
by Rob Nixon
13 minutes
I grew up in South Africa, our planet’s most inequitable society, and immigrated to the USA, the rich world’s most unequal one, a country in which 400...How Local is Slow Food?
13 minutes
At the heart of the sustainable food movement are a series of dichotomies: local/global, organic/conventional, slow/fast, artisanal/industrial. These ...A Memory from the North Sea Coast
by Katie Ritson
6 minutes
Part of the RCC Perspectives issue “Beyond Doom and Gloom: An Exploration through Letters,” this is a fictional letter addressed to RCC fellow ...A Mind Divided against Itself: Thinking Holistically with a Split Brain
by Frank Zelko
11 minutes
I am an environmental historian by training, and a good slice of my research involves examining the intellectual and cultural history of environmental...